1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computerized searches. More particularly, the present invention relates to searching for media content.
2. Background Art
Locating content on the world wide web is at once both easier and more challenging for users than ever before. The search for web content is made easier by the vast and ever growing body of information available online. Whether a user is seeking music, television programming, videos, or movies, for example, information about that content, and in some instances digitized versions of the content itself, is likely to be available somewhere. At the same time, however, the search for web content has become more challenging in that isolating particularly desirable content may be more difficult because of the spectrum of alternatives competing for the user's attention. In other words, the availability of so much content so easily obtained may serve as a significant distraction, and may make it that much more unlikely that the user will quickly identify and locate content of genuine interest to them.
As a result, identifying and locating content of real interest can be a time consuming and frustrating experience for the user. Moreover, in some instances, the active efforts required to differentiate among alternative content items to distinguish those holding genuine interest for the user may undermine the pleasure otherwise obtainable from a more seamless and immediate identification of the desired content. For example, consider a user accessing an Internet database to search for movie content online. A conventional approach to enabling the user search typically relies upon standard computer based information management tools to sort and summarize content items of potential interest to the user. According to that approach, the user might be required to read or otherwise analyze a summary of available content items, categorized according to genre, subject matter, or other criteria, in order to locate a particular movie of interest.
While providing the user with some ability to discriminate among available content items according to broad themes, this conventional approach provides a relatively rudimentary means for discovering specific content of genuine interest. In other words, one significant disadvantage of this conventional approach is that unless the search strategy employed by the user is well thought out and targeted, the user may be presented with a multitude of content items to evaluate, many of which may be of only marginal relevance to the user's primary interest. Another significant disadvantage of this conventional approach is that it typically requires the user to engage individual content items in a deductive analytical process. For example, by requiring the user to read and absorb a digest or synopsis of the content items encountered in the search, the conventional approach imposes substantial burdens on the user's time and attention.
Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by providing a solution enabling visual filtering of content so as to allow a user to engage and evaluate available content in an intuitive and enjoyable way.